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Much of the Amsterdam canal system is the successful outcome of city planning. In the early part of the 17th century, with immigration rising, a comprehensive plan was put together, calling for four main, concentric half-circles of canals with their ends resting on the IJ Bay. Known as the "grachtengordel",[7] three of the canals are mostly for residential development (Herengracht or ‘’Patricians' Canal’’; Keizersgracht or ‘’Emperor's Canal’’; and Prinsengracht or ‘’Prince's Canal’’), and a fourth, outer canal, Singelgracht, for purposes of defense and water management. The plan also envisaged interconnecting canals along radii; a set of parallel canals in the Jordaan quarter (primarily for the transportation of goods, for example, beer); the conversion of an existing, inner perimeter canal (Singel) from a defensive purpose to residential and commercial development; and more than one hundred bridges. The defensive purpose of the Nassau/Stadhouderskade was served by moat and earthen dikes, with gates at transit points but otherwise no masonry superstructures.

Construction proceeded from west to east, across the breadth of the layout, like a gigantic windshield wiper as the historian Geert Mak calls it – not from the center outwards as a popular myth has it. Construction of the north-western sector was started in 1613 and was finished around 1625. After 1664, building in the southern sector was started, although slowly because of an economic depression. The eastern part of the concentric canal plan, covering the area between the Amstel river and the IJ Bay, was not implemented for a long time. In the following centuries, the land went mostly for park, the Botanical garden, old age homes, theaters and other public facilities – and for waterways without much plan.[9] Several parts of the city and of the urban area are polders, recognisable by their postfix -meer meaning 'lake', such as Aalsmeer, Bijlmermeer, Haarlemmermeer, and Watergraafsmeer.

Most of the houses on the canals were built at least partially as warehouses, and were occupied by merchants who used it both as their home and as a place to store goods. The canals were historically used to transport goods from the large, ocean-going vessels, to the merchants' warehouses using smaller boats. This is why most houses have hooks on their roofs, to lift goods inside.

Nowadays, the city center is no longer in use as a major port, although there is a cruise ship terminal, as well as a large cargo port on the western side of the city.

Nah, i mean the buildings. The center of Haarlem only really has that big dome, much the same here. Zaandam has a bunch of big ugly slabs of concrete (plus a cool hotel), the same goes for many other cities.

The area around the arena and train station to the southeast of downtown, however, is a clusterfuck of new development. It took us 30 minutes of being lost in that maze to find our hotel. It was a nice area once we figured it out, though.